Germany kept its hopes of advancing to the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals alive with a 3-1 victory over Serbia on Saturday. The result officially confirmed Serbia’s relegation from Group A2 after the host nation finished the contest with nine players.
The match in Belgrade took place behind closed doors, attended by 5,000 children, as sanction for racist and discriminatory behavior by Serbian supporters during earlier games against Greece and the Netherlands.
Germany Takes Early Control
Germany opened the scoring in the third minute when Kai Havertz redirected a corner from Maximilian Mittelstadt, resulting in an own goal by Serbia’s Srdan Babic. The visitors extended their cushion shortly after when Aleksandar Pavlovic set up Havertz, whose shot was turned away by goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic before Florian Wirtz followed up to push the ball past the line.
After Havertz and Jonathan Tah both missed opportunities to add a third goal, debutant Brajan Gruda extended Germany’s lead. Gruda completed an individual run by driving a low shot into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Serbia Reduced to Nine Men
Serbia cut into the deficit when Babic reacted quickest to score off a rebound after Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved a header from Stefan Gudelj. However, the home side’s chances of a comeback vanished late in the second half.
Vanja Dragojevic was sent off in the 74th minute following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review for a late challenge on Joshua Kimmich. In the 89th minute, Andrija Zivkovic was also dismissed after picking up consecutive yellow cards for dissent.
The win leaves Germany tied on points with second-place Greece, which suffered a 7-0 defeat against group leaders the Netherlands. Germany can guarantee its spot in the quarter-finals by defeating the Dutch team on Monday, while winless Serbia closes its campaign against Greece on the same day.
